For the third consecutive year, bikers gathered in downtown Oxford Sunday to remember the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and raise money for families of America’s fallen heroes.
Organized by Oxford Township resident “Tattoo Bob” Howell and his brother, Capac resident Harry Pressel, this year’s 90-mile charity ride through Oxford, Capac and Yale raised money for the family of the late U.S. Marine Maj. Kevin Nave.
Nave, of White Lake Twp., was the first Michigan resident to die during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The money will be donated in the name of fallen New York firefighter Billy Lake, a friend of a friend of Howell and fellow Harley-Davidson owner.
Lake, a member of Brooklyn Rescue Station No. 2, perished helping others in the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
Last year’s ride raised money for Lake’s family and it was decided then that every donation in the years that follow would be given in his name.
Howell and a group of 100 bikers left Michigan Monday for their third annual ride to NewYork City to pay homage to the fallen heroes of Sept. 11 and the loved ones they left behind.
By the time the group arrives in New York Thursday, they expect to be 1,000 strong.